Science Projects for Kids: Soil Experiments

Who Needs Dirt? In this science project, you can teach kids to grow a sweet potato plant without soil -- all you'll use are toothpicks and water.

How to find out Who Needs Dirt?

What You'll Need:

Toothpicks

Sweet potato

Glass

Water

Step 1: Insert three toothpicks around a sweet potato near the large end so they stick out to the sides in different directions.

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Step 2: Fill a glass most of the way with water. Put the sweet potato into the glass small-end first, and rest the toothpicks on the rim so they hold up the sweet potato. There should be enough water in the glass so that about 3/4 of the sweet potato is covered.

Step 3: Put the jar in a sunny spot for several days. Add water as needed. Soon you will have a beautiful vine growing from the top of the potato.

Lowdown on Dirt is a science project that teaches kids to compare different kinds of soil and determine which is better. Read about Lowdown on Dirt on the next page of science projects for kids: soil experiments.

Looking for more science projects to do with your kids? Try:

Usually you put a plant into soil to make it grow, but you can grow some plants without soil. When the sweet potato plant was growing with its roots in the water and its leaves in the sun, it produced food through photosynthesis and the stored carbohydrates in the potato. This stored food in the sweet potato provided the energy needed to grow a new plant.